


Cold Comfort

by Donovanspen



Series: Walk Through the Valley [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cold Weather, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Sharing Body Heat, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 04:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/819814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donovanspen/pseuds/Donovanspen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Dean and Cas resolve some issues, they are able to start hunting together.  Cas starts to feel the effects of his transformation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Comfort

“Hurry up, Dean!”

He didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder when he heard Cas’ shout. Not that he would have been able to see much with the limited light out there in the woods. Instead he concentrated on trying to get his fingers to stop shaking and light the damn lighter. The wind wasn’t helping either.

“Damn!” he swore when the light went out again. Every curse he knew rolled past his lips as he struggled with the lighter. Off in the distance, he could hear Cas letting loose with a few choice words of his own as he dealt with the vengeful spirit of Adelaide Burch. For some reason, the deceased woman had taken a liking to the angel. Probably had something to do with the fact that she considered herself a devout woman of God but had been painted as a fanatic by the townspeople. And in all honesty, she was. Dean wasn’t one to judge someone’s personal devotion to their religion, but yeah, this woman had been off her rocker. It was that bit of craziness that led to her untimely death a few years ago. She had been haunting these woods ever since. 

He heard the blast of the shotgun and figured that Cas must have managed to find it again. When they had first arrived in the woods, it had taken them a couple of hours to find the actual location where the bones were buried. Cas was still a bit pissy about that since he had pointed out where he thought they were, but he lost rock, paper, scissors. Dean knew that he was never going to hear the end of it since Cas had actually been right. 

He didn’t know why Cas was so annoyed. It wasn’t like he was feeling the cold the same way that he did. And typical of what usually happens when they actually unearth the bones, the spirit of Adelaide showed up to disrupt the salting and burning process. She had immediately focused on Cas even though he wasn’t the one holding the shovel. He did have the lighter fluid so that might have been the reason she latched onto him. Personally, Dean thought it went deeper than that. Probably more like the fact that Cas was an angel and that Adelaide had devoted her life to her religion only to be betrayed by it. At least in her mind. So maybe all those vengeful feelings were being directed at Cas because he represented the faith that had abandoned her. He had mentioned this to Cas as he was busy fending off the angry spirit. It was the very first time that Cas had ever cursed him out. And apparently, he had been spending way too much time with Bobby because Cas seriously threw some stuff out there that even Dean wouldn’t say. He liked to think that it was only because Adelaide was in the process of pummeling the crap out of him that had him so cranky. But then again, he had been having some serious mood swings.

“Light the damn bones,” Cas hissed, running up to Dean, panting and trying to catch his breath. 

“Are you using your powers?” he threw at him, once he noticed just how ragged Cas was actually looking.

The deal was that they did these hunts only if Cas could hang as a human. They tried to pick cases where angelic strength wasn’t necessary. They were trying to get him into a new way of thinking, of not relying on his grace because none of them knew when it would be gone. 

“Yes, Dean,” he snapped. “I decided it might be a good time to spread my wings and fly after she threw me into a tree and tried to choke me to death.”

Ah, that explained how he would have gotten a chance to get a hold of the shotgun. Ol’ Adelaide played a pretty good game of keep away. He huddled over the bones again, cupping his hands as a windbreak, trying his best to get the lighter to work. 

“Did you even fill it up, Dean? When was the last time you put fluid in that thing?”

“Stop nagging!”

A loud shriek wailed behind them, and Cas whirled around ready to fire off another blast. He wasn’t quick enough, though, and a mightily pissed off Adelaide sent him flying again. Dean braced himself, but the spirit barely spared him a look. Yup, it had to be an angel thing because normally spirits were pretty testy with those who tried to burn their bones. 

Figuring Cas had it covered, at least for now, Dean held the lighter in the palm of his hand and then shoved his freezing hand up underneath his shirt and into his armpit. He waited as long as he dared, hoping that would be enough time to warm his fingers to the point where they could function.

“Dean!”

Time’s up. Dean squatted down over the bones again, huddled as close as he dared to keep the wind away but not so close as to light himself on fire in case the flame ignited from the fumes of the lighter fluid that Cas had spread over the body. Yes, there was the spark. He lit the small piece of paper and stuck it down into the bones and leapt back as the fire roared up. He heard the last shriek of Adelaide Burch as she went up in flames.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered. Simple salt and burn, his ass. He definitely owed Sam an ass-kicking for this one. He was pretty sure that his brother was laid back in Bobby’s study, sipping a beer and reading some book while he was out in the middle of nowhere, freezing his butt off with what was sure to be a very pissed off angel. 

Cas’ mood swings had seemed to be leveling out somewhat. They weren’t as erratic as before, and they could now see a definite switch so they kind of had a warning as to whether they were about to get manic Cas, cranky Cas, emo Cas, or whatever. The downside was that the moods had no set time. Some days they could get cranky Cas all day long. On another day, they could get moody Cas who would blow through a mood so fast that they weren’t even sure what happened.

He looked around. Cas should have made his way back to him by now. “Cas?” he shouted. When he didn’t get an answer, that old familiar knot formed in his gut. As far as he knew, you still couldn’t kill him. He couldn’t think of anything that a spirit could do out here that would actually hurt an angel. Oh crap, he said he’d flown, meaning he was running on fumes.

He took off in the direction that he had last seen him go. He kept shouting for him, hoping that the angel would shout back with his location. He wasn’t, and Dean was officially beginning to panic. How far could he have gotten? He backtracked and retraced his steps, sweeping the area in a wider arc, calling out the entire time. He even tried his cell phone, but he wasn’t getting any reception out in the middle of the woods. 

The temperature was dropping. He could feel it, but the cold wasn’t really bothering him. He was warm enough under his layers and now that he wasn’t digging up bones and trying to light a lighter, he could indulge and continue to wear the bulky, totally impractical yet warm mittens that they had picked up last minute at the convenience store on the highway. 

No, he was concerned for Cas. If he was drained, then he might be feeling the cold and the clothes he had on just might not be enough. His eyes trailed over the direction that he should have been in when he saw what he had missed the first time. What appeared to be a small bundle of bushes was actually the top of a small incline. He raced over and his breath caught as he saw the shimmer of the water. 

Please no, he thought, as the image of the spirit dragging Cas under filled his mind. He got closer to the edge of the water and saw slight movement off to the side.

“Cas!” 

He ran over to him and was horrified to find out that he may have been right. Cas was laying on the bank, barely out of the water, soaking wet, his body shaking violently.

“Damn. Come on buddy. We can’t stay here.” He rolled him over and almost cried with relief to find out that he was still conscious. Blue eyes stared up at him, but Dean noticed that he wasn’t really focusing on him. He tapped him on the cheek slightly, hoping to bring him around. If the scowl that crossed his face was any indication, it did, and Cas was definitely the pissed off angel that he had been expecting.

It took quite a bit of effort, but Dean finally managed to get him to his feet. It took even more effort for him to try to walk Cas out of the woods and back to the car. The question as to whether he was feeling the cold was a definite yes. Cas was shaking nonstop and if his teeth weren’t clenched so tightly together, Dean was sure that they would be chattering. The wet clothes coupled with the wind that was now picking up, and Cas didn’t stand much of a chance.

“Come on, buddy. This won’t take long. It’s a shorter walk outta here than it was in, I promise.”

Cas tried to respond, but Dean couldn’t even make out what it was. He’d taken off his gloves and replaced Cas’ wet ones. He tried to do the same with his jacket but Cas refused to take it. 

“I’ll….. I’ll… still… heal,” he had stammered. Dean didn’t want to waste any more time out there so he had let it go. 

As promised, they reached the car in shorter time than it had taken to find the bones, but it had still taken a terribly long time with Cas walking so slow and leaning heavily onto Dean. 

He started the car and turned the heat on full blast. Their bag was back at the cabin where they were staying (supposedly one of the perks for taking this hunt- a nice hunting cabin where they can enjoy nature) so the only thing that he could do for Cas right now was to wrap him up in the old wool blanket that they kept in the trunk and deposit him in the front seat where he could feel the full blast of the heater.

It seemed everything was destined to go slow that night. The roads were still icy from earlier so Dean had to take it easy on the dark country roads. The cabin wasn’t far, but the roads weren’t well lit or traveled at this time of night. And as much as he wanted to get Cas back and get him out of those wet clothes, he didn’t want to crash his baby and then have them stranded.

The shaking hadn’t really slowed down any, but Dean figured that was to be expected. He was huddled down in the blanket as far as he could go and not saying a word. Dean could appreciate that so he left him alone, not asking him to speak, but just filling the silence with quiet reassurances that he was going to get him back and warmed up.

By the time he pulled up the narrow drive that led to the cabin, he was feeling as if he was about to roast inside the car. Cas, on the other hand, was still burrowed down in the blanket and not talking. Getting out of the car he was hit with the full force of the wind. He really should have listened earlier when some of the locals were talking about the wind chill and the storm that was due to hit. He hadn’t because he had fully expected them to be back from burning the bones hours ago and tucked away in this nice cabin with a cooler full of beer, just chilling out. 

Instead, it was late, dark and cold and nothing was going like he had imagined. He hustled around to the passenger side and tried to pull an extremely resistant angel out of the car. 

“Cas, stop fighting me. We can’t stay out here. Come on, I promise it’ll be warmer inside. Here, just stand up, and you can keep the blanket around you.”

He should have known better than to promise. After finally getting Cas over to the front door and then getting the stubborn lock to turn, they stepped inside to an absolutely frigid cabin. They had been in such a hurry to get started earlier that they had just dropped off their bags and coolers and headed back out, not even thinking about turning up the heat so the place would be warm when they returned. 

“Go ahead and get out of those wet clothes while I warm the place up.” He flipped on the lights and found the wall thermostat. It was a small basic one-room layout, but he didn’t think that Cas would appreciate how long it was going to take. Especially, if that clanking noise was any indication that maybe the heat hadn’t been used in this place in a while. 

His eyes drifted to the wood stove in the corner of the room. He recalled seeing the woodpile on the front porch. On his way to the door, he saw that Cas was sitting in one of the wooden chairs by the table, still huddled under the blanket. He was about to remind him again that he needed to strip out of those wet clothes but he figured the odds of Cas actually getting undressed now, while the cabin was so cold was highly unlikely. So fire first and then Cas. 

It was all conspiring against him. No way should it take this long for a hunter to build a fire. But damn it, he was Dean Winchester and he got it done. And it was a good thing, too, as the heater had made several more large clanking noises and then died completely. Thinking about Bobby’s old furnace, he figured that it must be out of propane or oil. Great. Fortunately the heat from the stove was slowly making its way into the room. At this rate, the one-roomed cabin would be nice and toasty by mid morning. 

With that done, he turned back around to face the angel who was now glaring at him from the blanket that he still had in a death grip. 

“You are such a big baby,” he told him with an annoyed huff as he went and grabbed Cas’ duffle. There wasn’t much in the way of cold weather clothes as Cas’ body temperature was still pretty much regulated by his grace. He pulled out a pair of underwear and long sleeve undershirt and then reached for his bag, searching through it until he found an extremely thick pair of socks. 

He briefly considered trying to put Cas into a hot shower to get him warmed up. He went into the bathroom which was even colder as none of the warmth of the stove had traveled that far yet. Hell, it was barely making a dent in the fight against the cold in the main room. Still, he went ahead and turned on the faucet, waiting to see how long it would take for the hot water to come out. Too long. Switching it off, he went back out into the main room. 

“All right. This will have to work.” He tugged at the blanket, but Cas just tightened his hold on it and continued to glare at him.

“Dude, I’m trying to help you. I can promise you that unless you can magic yourself all dry again, you’re going to be absolutely miserable.”

“Why,” Cas croaked, stopping for a moment to clear his throat before trying again. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”

“What?” Dean stopped trying to pull the blanket off. 

“With…Ade..Adelaide,” he stuttered.

“Look, I’ll make a deal with you. You help me get you out of these clothes and warmed up, and I’ll listen to everything you have to say. Promise.”

He didn’t much care for the look that Cas gave him. It made him feel like a guilty ass even though he had been trying to do his best by him all day. But in the end, Cas relinquished his death grip on the blanket and allowed Dean to pull it away.

With the protective garment gone, he could still see how much the angel was shivering. “Come on. That can’t be feeling good.”

He reached for him and was shocked to feel just how cold he was. “Man, you’re like ice. Help me out here.” He reached down and pulled off the sodden shoes and socks. Next came the shirt and pants which wasn’t easy with Cas tending to fold in on himself

“Ok.” He placed the dry clothes that he had gathered on the small table. “Go ahead and change into this while I grab the blankets.” Trusting that Cas would most likely not want any help in getting out of his wet boxer briefs, Dean went over to the wardrobe where he found a couple of blankets. Pulling them down, he turned around just as Cas was shakily pulling the briefs up to his hips. 

He tossed the blankets onto the bed and went over to help him get into the dry shirt. He looked him over. Satisfied that there weren’t any parts turning blue, he then led him over to the room’s only full sized bed and pulled back the covers. “In you go.” Before covering him with the bedding, Dean reached for his feet and pulled on the warm socks. 

“Snug as a bug,” he told him, tucking him in. “Now give me a sec.” He took the blankets that he had pulled from the armoire and spread them out on top of the bedspread. In the small kitchenette area, he found a mug and began heating water in the microwave. He started rummaging through the bag of food that they had packed to bring along. He wasn’t much of a planner when it came to stuff like this, always opting to eat along the way, but with Cas’ internal systems somewhat out of whack, he liked to have stuff on hand that the angel could tolerate. He found the container of tea bags. Retrieving the mug from the microwave, he dropped in a tea bag and then went back over to Cas.

“How you doing over here?” He placed his hand on what part of his forehead he could see sticking out from underneath the blankets. He still felt way too cold. “Why aren’t you warming up?” he muttered more to himself. He reached underneath the covers and slid his hand up underneath Cas’ shirt to see if his skin was warm to the touch. It wasn’t any warmer for being underneath all those blankets. Granted, the room was still chilly as the small wood stove in the corner did its best to generate heat, but he should have felt a little warmer underneath all those blankets.

Returning to the kitchenette, he removed the tea bag and added the extras that Cas liked. He carried it over to the little table next to the bed and then went and stoked the fire.

“Best I can do for now, buddy,” he announced. 

“Where are my clothes?” came the muffled voice from underneath the blankets. 

“What clothes? Trust me, there is nothing in that bag that will help you out. You need to buy more clothes.”

“They aren’t necessary.”

“No, not until times like this when you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere freezing.”

“Because you don’t listen to me.”

He sighed. “Tell me again how this is my fault.” He untied the laces, and pulled off his boots. The room wasn’t unbearable to him, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable.

“If you had listened when I told you where the bones were buried, we wouldn’t have wasted hours trampling through the woods. We would have found the bones earlier, before nightfall where the temperature has been steadily dropping. What are you doing?” he hissed, trying to move away. 

“Stop whining. I’m trying to thaw you out before you freeze to death,” he told him as he huddled up next to him, pulling the covers up over them.

“You’re cold,” Cas snapped.

“Ungrateful bastard. That just means you’re warming up if you think I’m cold. Just give it a minute and by then, the stove will be putting off enough heat as well as the body heat we’ll generate from being underneath all these blankets.”

“Is this your way of making up for not listening?”

“How long are you going to harp on that, Cas? And yes, this is to make up for that and for a hell of a lot more that you may think I have wronged you on. I don’t do this for just anyone.”

It took a while, but he finally got a gruff ‘thank you’ out of him. 

“So, if I promise to listen, then will you tell me what’s going on with you, because, honestly, you should have warmed up by now.” And that was it, the real reason that he had done all this and then went as far as to get into the bed with him. He was scared. This was something new. Cas had been maintaining pretty well up until now with the exception of some erratic mood swings. This was the first physical problem that they had encountered where the angel actually appeared to be suffering from something outside of his control. Sure, his powers were draining but the loss of them wasn’t causing Cas any physical pain. This was something different. 

“I have been having difficulty regulating my body temperature.”

He tensed up, and then felt Cas tense up and try to move away. He snaked an arm out and gripped him around the waist, a clear indicator to stay put. “How long?”

“A few days now.”

“You came on a hunt, knowing that you weren’t all right?”

“No, Dean. I wasn’t sure what was going on. We’re in a cold climate, going from one to the other. The car is warm, and then we’re outside in the cold. Then we’re back inside again. Bobby’s house is warm until you go to sleep. Then it’s freezing before dawn. This is new to me, and it is difficult to know what is normal.”

He could appreciate that, but he didn’t like it. “You could have talked to me.”

“About everything? If I had told you about the broken fingernail I had last week, you would have assumed that my vessel was deteriorating.”

“Your body, Cas. Not a vessel, not anymore. And how did you break the nail?”

He huffed out a sigh. “Storing those auto parts for Bobby.”

“Are you warming up at all?” He had to be. He was no longer shaking, although his skin did still feel cool to the touch. Meanwhile, Dean was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm. They were under a heavy comforter as well as two additional blankets. 

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

“Dude, were you this cold the entire time we were looking for the bones? You should have said something.”

“I wasn’t. I was actually comfortable in the clothes that I wore out there. It wasn’t until I had to expend so much energy trying to fight her off and then getting dragged into the pond.” Dean felt a small shudder go through the angel as he recalled the events that had led to his current state. 

“You know we can take time off from hunting while your system works itself out.”

“Yes, you and Sam remind me of this constantly. I was fine to work this case. Besides, by the time I was able to determine what was wrong, it was too late. We knew who the spirit was, and we were in a position to stop her. With Adelaide appearing only once a year, we had a limited window of opportunity.”

“I understand that, but I need you alive to fight another day.”

“I’m hardly dying, Dean.”

“Yeah, well one wouldn’t think so with the way you’ve been bitching this evening. Is there any part that hurts more than others? Do you need me to check for frostbite or something?”

“If you remove these blankets, I’ll summon what remaining grace I can harness and smite the hell out of you,” he threatened, pulling the covers closer around him. 

“Ok, man, but I’m reaching my limit so I’m out.” He slid back out of the bed, doing his best to not unravel the cocoon that Cas was currently burrowed in. Once free of the oppressive bedding, he could still feel the chill in the air. Putting his boots back on, he grabbed his jacket and went out onto the porch to bring in more wood. He could hear Cas grumbling about the open door, but he went ahead and grabbed several extra loads, hoping that this would be the last time he’d have to go out until morning.

“You’ll thank me later,” he called out, as he brought in the last load. After making a pit stop by the bathroom (and yes, the water was still cold as hell) he began rummaging through the cooler that Sam had packed for them before they had left yesterday. He had been eating at local places so the cooler was still pretty full. There were sandwiches and fruit. And score, fried chicken. Mother Hen Sammy was awesome. 

“Hey Cas, you hungry? Sam hooked us up. Even has some stuff in here that you would like.”

“No.”

“Hey, if you’re body is still converting food to energy, eating something might help. At least drink the tea that I made you, though it’s probably cold by now.”

“Then I’m not drinking it.”

“Baby,” he repeated but he went and retrieved the mug and put it back in the microwave along with a drumstick for himself. He returned the mug to the table. 

“Come on out and drink up. It might help.”

Cas slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, doing his best to keep the blankets covering as much of himself as possible. He looked so miserable that Dean couldn’t even be amused by the grumpy expression and mussed hair that was sticking up in all directions. He handed the mug to him, so he wouldn’t have to reach over for it.

“Thank you.”

He discreetly watched him, looking for any sign that he was worse off than just being uncomfortably cold. 

“Hey Cas, is it just cold? Does it hurt anywhere at all?”

He looked confused for a moment. “Didn’t you already ask me this?”

“I’m just trying to cover the bases. Sometimes people are cold and need to do things to get the blood pumping, increase circulation. If you’re not warming up after being under all those blankets, maybe we need to get you up and moving around.”

Cas shot him a murderous glare and seemed to slide a little further down into the bed. “That hardly seems practical – leaving someplace warm to step back into the cold in an attempt to warm up? Isn’t there something that can be done while remaining under the bedding?”

Dean felt his face warm up as he thought about what activities most people do under the covers. Well, maybe if Cas did it solo.. nope, not going there. 

“Ok, even you’re not that naïve and if you’re propositioning me, then I’m dragging your ass out from under those blankets and getting you walking around, pronto or taking you to the hospital.”

“Don’t worry,” he smirked. “I am not propositioning you. After all, you already tried the body heat tactic, and it did not work.”

“You little shit. You must be feeling better.”

“A little,” Cas admitted. 

Dean breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to let on just how worried he had been so he went and fiddled with the fire in the stove, shoving in another few pieces.

“I don’t like this,” Cas stated after a minute.

“What’s that?”

“Cold. I have never felt it before.”

Dean closed the door of the stove and turned back to look at him. “Never? Really?”

“Not like this. Not in a way that is personal to me. You are right. I can no longer consider this a vessel. Even though it has been just me in here and has been that way for a long time, my grace was always a buffer. I didn’t have to actively access it for it to function.”

Dean nodded, not wanting to interrupt, now that Cas was sharing freely. It wasn’t something he normally did. Usually, he, Bobby or Sam would have to ask pointed questions and try to piece together a picture of what was going on with the angel at any given time.

But this explained quite a bit. 

“What does your grace do on its own?” he prompted when Cas didn’t continue. He walked back over to the bed and plopped down across the end, lifting the end of one of the blankets and draping it across him without dislodging it from Cas’ pile.

Cas flushed a little and Dean was glad to see that he had some color to him, although he did hope that they weren’t about to embark upon another mood swing. Sometimes, Cas was so blunt and forthright that it was embarrassing. Other times, he was painfully shy. Sometimes he and Sam would just sit and speculate as to what Cas’ personality was going to be like when the dust finally settled.

“It does everything,” he finally answered. “It is so integral that it is much like breathing. When an angel takes a vessel, our grace acts as a buffer. It protects the individual as well as preserves the body. Our grace maintains the body in such as way that it does not need to perform to sustain life.”

“Kind of like suspended animation.”

“I suppose,” he shrugged. “It is why I do not need to eat, or relieve myself. It’s also why this body will heal if injured and why I do not need to indulge in bathing as much as you and Sam.”

“Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied in the most serious tone even though his eyes twinkled. “It isn’t anything that I’m actively doing. It just is.”

“And when you’re drained?”

“Then I have to do more to maintain. But unless my grace is near zero, those basic functions will still occur, albeit more slowly. What’s happening with my emotions and regulating my temperature are not necessarily a result of my grace being drained, but I suspect that it has more to do with my grace transforming.”

“But your grace was drained when we were fighting the Apocalypse and you became human after you carved that sigil into your chest.” Everything had been moving so fast that they never knew the full extent of how that had affected Cas.

“I misspoke when I agreed with your assessment that I had become human. With my grace exhausted, I might as well have been human. At that point, my grace was drained away, and I had to function and operate as a human. With my ties to Heaven being cut, I couldn’t heal or recharge, but I was still essentially an angel.”

“But you could have died in a human way.”

“Most likely, considering that I did.”

“But now, you are essentially cut off and your grace isn’t able to recharge fully.”

“No, it isn’t,” he agreed. 

“I’m sorry, man.” It was difficult to understand, but the underlying fact remained that Cas was changing, and he was vulnerable. The little details of whether he needed to shower that day or when would he need a haircut wasn’t the issue. It was more of a big picture thing of how his changing grace was affecting him. 

Dean stifled a yawn. It had been a long day and an even longer night thus far, and it was catching up to him.

“You can go to sleep, Dean. I have told you before that it is not necessary for you to remain awake just to watch over me.”

“Yeah, well,” he trailed off. The thought of sleep was certainly appealing. “You should try to get some sleep also.” He wanted to ask how the sleeping tied into his grace and recharging itself, but he wasn’t sure if he would even understand the answer. As far as he was concerned, the bottom line was that sleep was good. 

Cas glanced around the room, and Dean had his answer. He was still dodging sleep as much as possible. If a situation arose where he was in need of rest, he reverted back to the agreement that they had made while they had stayed at Bert’s: small catnaps during the day and meditation at night. Dean knew that they were going to have to address the nightmares soon enough, but with everything going on, he was willing to give Cas some space.

“We should head south. Maybe swing by and see Bert and then head on to Florida. Or out west. Someplace warm. These northern winters suck,” he broke off, fighting back another yawn.

“Go to sleep,” Cas ordered.

His eyes drifted over to the small sofa, and he wondered if it was even worth the trouble.

“You may have the bed. I am feeling better.”

“No.” He knew that Cas really wasn’t feeling any better; otherwise he would have been up by now. “Let’s not push it. A little extra rest couldn’t hurt.”

Cas looked as if he was about to argue but instead just shook his head and looked away. “Well, then, we can share the bed. There is plenty of room.”

He’d been expecting a fight, at the very least a stubborn refusal. Despite Bert’s advice to the contrary, Cas didn’t invite close contact. He interacted with them, giving and accepting help when necessary, but he shied away from any hint of closeness. 

“You sure?”

“We’ve done this before.”

He didn’t know why Cas was reaching out. Maybe the loss of control had unsettled him, he wasn’t sure. But whatever it was, Cas was giving him an opening, and he was damn sure going to take it. “Yeah. Yeah, we have,” he answered, moving up to lie next to Cas.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any typos I may have missed.


End file.
